Method of sizing threads and apparatus therefor



y E. N.HALL 2,248,988 METHOD OF SIZING THREADS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR Filed Nov. 18, 1957 FIG.1

FIG. 2

INV ENT OR.

EDWARD NATH-AIY/EL HAL L Patented July 15, 1941 METHOD OF SIZING THREADS APPARATUS THEREFOR Edward Nathaniel Hall, New York, N. Y., assignor to Aaron J. Rothstein, doing business as Triangle Thread Mills', New York, N. Y.

Application November 18, 1937, Serial No. 175,188

11 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of sizing threads, and to apparatus therefor.

The process and apparatus here are, in most of their aspects, concerned with spun yarn, which will hereinafter be termed, thread, although the term may have more general application in connection with certain aspects of the invention.

Sized threads, that is, textile thread to which a sizing agent has been added by immersion or other methods of addition, serve many important industrial and other purposes. As one instance, sized threads are essential for sewing oiled cloth or leather if unravelling is to be prevented. To attach sizing ingredients to thread, or, better still, to the fibres of thread, in the quantities and in the manner required by the industries, is the problem here to be considered. Merely to run thread through a bath, with the expectation that sufficient of the sizing ingredients will become attached to the thread, has been found to lack sufficient control as sought by present-day manufacturing practice.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method, and apparatus therefor, for governed control of the addition of sizing ingredients to thread. It is an object of the invention to provide a method, and apparatus therefor, for effecting a substantial deposit of sizing ingredients on thread.

Certain fibres, used in making textile threads, have physical characteristics which normally sharply limit the quantityof size which can attach itself to the thread, even with an extended impregnation period. It is an object of the invention to provide a method, and apparatus therefor, for effecting a positive and substantial deposit of size on such threads during the normal period of passage of thread through a sizing bath. Among such threads which, in a sense, prevent, rather than permit,- deposit of size, are natural cotton yarns, that is, yarns in which natural gums, resins, pectins, waxes or oils are present. Actual application of the process herein to such thread has resulted in that which has not previously been accomplished to any appreciable degree, that is, the deposit of appreciable amounts of size upon the thread from an ordinary sizing bath.

Certain types of size have been found to have definite electrical properties when in the bath, and to be attracted onto an electrical conductor from the bath. In fact, size has been found to penetrate into the fibres of thread under the impetus of the attraction derived from the electric action. The result is that the size adheres more firmly to the thread.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method, and apparatus therefor, by which thread to be sized is, when in the sizing bath, made electrically active in such manner as to be attractive to electrical charges on particles of size in the bath so that the particles of size in the bath, independently of the attraction of contact or other pressure conditions in the bath, will be propelled from the bath onto the thread.

Thread, such as that of cotton yarn, in itself, is substantially a non-conductor of electricity. The voltages ordinarily necessary for the passage -of any appreciable charge of electricity through thread would be practically prohibitive, or extremely dangerous, or even cause'destruction of the thread, and, therefore, industrially inapplicable. It is an object of the invention to provide a method, and apparatus therefor, where substantially ordinary electrical potentials are made effective for making the fect as solvents of size, but, at the same time,

had the property of ionization so that the flow of current from the thread, as a. part of the electric circuit, across the bath for the purpose ,of producing the deposit desired, became appreciable. It is an object of the invention to provide a method, and apparatus therefor, for imparting to thread, before its passage into a sizing bath, a body of a substance capable of facilitating the passage of current across the bath, wherein the thread serves as one of the poles, to effect the attraction of size to the thread when in the bath, without effecting dilution of the sizing substance in the sizing bath.

Other objects of this invention will hereinafter be set forth, or will be apparent from the description and the drawing, in which are illustrated embodiments of apparatus for carrying out the certain elements of the invention.

The invention, however, is not intended to be restricted to particular constructions and armethods of-use, nor to various details thereof, herein shown and described, as the. same may be modified in various particulars, or be applied in many varied relations, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the practical embodiments herein illustrated and described attempting merely to show some forms and modifications the invention may take.

On the drawing, in which the same reference characters refer to the same parts throughout, and in which are disclosed practical embodiments of features of the invention:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic'view of apparatus capable of carrying out the method of the invention, and embodying certain principles of the invention, the baths and certain of the rods and rollers being shown in vertical cross-section; and

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the baths, one of the rollers being removed, to clarify the disclosure.

On the drawing, a diagrammatic illustration of certain apparatus intended to assist in carrying out certain purposes of the invention has been illustrated. In this apparatus, baths HI and I2 are illustrated in such relation that thread Mpasses first through bath l2, and then into and through bath Ill, as a continuous operation. For the purpose of identification, bath III will hereinafter be referred to as the sizing bath, while bath I2 will be referred to as the preparatory bath. Although the baths are shown to assume a specific relationship to each other in this diagrammatic illustration, there is no intention, except in certain relations, that the invention be so specifically limited. For instance, the sizing bath may have any desired constituents in accord with the sizing results desired. The sizing ingredients are made up in such manner that thread, after its passage from the bath, will have had deposited thereon a predetermined amount of related sizing ingredients in a predetermined relationship to each other. Such substances as paraflin, starches, gums, and other sizing substances, stabilized by emulsifying agents, may be used for this purpose, in related quantities determined substantially in the manner generally followed.

The thread, in its passage through the sizing bath, is guided by suitable means, as, for ins stance, by being retained in grooves IS in rods [8, 20 and 22, fixed to extend transversely of the direction of movement of the thread through the bath, and below the level of sizing material 24 in the bath. The number of rods can be determined in accordance with various factors. For instance, if the thread is to travelrapidly through the bath, an extended path of travel for the thread through the bath becomes necessary, and the thread may be guided back and forth through the bathby various arrangements of the rods. Also, other factors, such as the number of electrodes desired in order to decrease the potential drop along the thread, may be a determining factor, in striving to produce a definite growth in thread passing through the bath. The thread, after leaving rod 22, is wrapped substantially half way around a roll 26, then passing between the roll and a roller 23 before passing away from the bath at 30. Roll 28, as also roller 28, may be covered with felt 32, which itself becomes impregnated with sizing material and thereby serves to make the charge on the thread, as it passes from the bath, of more uniform character, as the felt will remove any undesirable excess, and, at the same time, will apply additional material where the thread may have failed to take on a sufiicient quantity. Also, the felt will cooperate with roller 28 to prevent compression under the action of the roller from tearing the coating off the sized thread as it passes between roll 26 and roller 28. Beyond roller 28 the thread may pass to brushes 34, at which point a desired polish may be imparted to the thread.

Grooves iii are formed circumferentially around rods i8, 20 and 22, and define guides for the thread. With the use of a plurality of grooves IS on each rod, a plurality of threads may be accommodated simultaneously in a single sizing bath. Rods I8, 20 and 22 preferably are metallic, and as illustrated in the diagram, by suitable means of electrical conduction, are connected to a source of electrical energy 36, to form, in the sizing bath, one pole of an electrical circuit. Immediately below the rods may be a metallic trough 38 which may be immersed in the bath ingredients to such depth as to be spaced but a very short distance from the rod, but at a distance suflicient for the proper circulation,

throughout the operation of the apparatus, of.

the sizing bath ingredients in their fluid condition around rods I8, 20 and 22, and the moving thread guided thereby. This trough may be connected electrically to provide the other pole in bath ill of the circuit including source 36.

When source 38 is made effective, an effective electric current will pass across the bath between the rods and the trough, if the bath ingredients have properties such as dissociation by which solutions or suspensions in liquids acquire current-carrying capabilities. Sizing baths of the time here to be discussed have this characteristic of dissociation, so that sized particles are found to deposit on the rods. However, after an amount of size suflicient to form a coat of limited thickness has been deposited on the surface of the rods, flow of current between the rods and the trough, unless other factors enter, will come practically to a halt.

However, as thread I4 moves through grooves IS, the thread continuously cleans the metal at the grooves, removing any size which tends to make the rods non-conducting at these points.

The thread itself, which thus is continuously in contact with the clean metallic conducting surfaces of the rods at the grooves, becomes a conductor and a pole of the circuit of source 36. Between rods, the thread is free, but continuously electrically connected to the rods, and, therefore, impressed with an electrical potential. To reduce the potential drop along the thread, the spacing of the rods may be decreased, thus providing a smaller portion of thread along which the current must travel before reacting with the electrical charges of the bath.

Passage of current across the bath between the thread and the trough will result even without the effects further to be discussed. In one instance, a potential of three hundred volts was found effective. A deposit of size by reason of this electrical action, and aside from pure impregnation by immersion, will result, and the charge of size on the thread will have been increased by the passage of the electric current, as

'- a part of the process, from the thread itself to trough 38. A polarity reversing switch 40 may be provided so that the polarity of rods I8, 20 and 22, and of trough 38, may be reversed should it become necessary on observation of the manner in which the ingredients of the size bath are depositing.

In order to increase the quantity of current passing in the'circuit at any time, and, thereby, the amount of size deposited electrically on the thread, it has been found that subjection of the thread to the preparatory bath has unexpected results in that direction. Diagrammatically, a spool or roll 42 of thread I4 is shown mounted on a feeding creel 44, positioned at the entrance to bath I2 so that the thread feeds over a rod 46 which may be above the level of the body 48 of substances in the bath. From rod 46, the thread may be guided into the bath substances by passing around and under immersion roll 50, from which the thread then passes to a rod 52, which guides the thread onto the first rod l8 in bath l0. Bath I2 is shown diagrammatically as immediately above bath I 0, and with its discharge end 54 immediately above rod l8, thus illustrating one efficient manner of retaining on the thread the ingredients derived from bath l2 until the thread passes into bath I0. Although rods have been illustrated, it is to be understood that; for certain purposes, power driven rolls or rollers may be preferred in all cases, or'only in certain of them, as, for instance, roll 26, roller 28 and immersion roll 50, which may be coordinated to assure synchronized feeding, through the several baths, of the thread under proper tension.

For the preliminary processing of the thread, before its entry into the sizing bath, certain substances were found highly efiective. Properties sought were that such substance or substarices should easily penetrate the yarn, be capable of dissociation to such degree as to cause the passage of electricity therethrough in appreciable quantity, not disperse or dissolve readily in water or in an emulsion of size, and, finally, exert no harmful effect on the final finish, color or strength of the yarn, or affect the ability of the yarn to takedye. One of the substances found mildly eflicacious for this purpose was triethanolamine oleate, with formamide and nitrobenzene as solvents. One such bath, used successfully, had 10% triethanolamine oleate dissolved in 80% nitrobenzene and 10% formamide,

These ingredients were found to have the faculty of attracting the size ingredients to thread, in the sizing bath, impregnated therewith, in addition to the increased electrical reaction of the thread in the bath. It is to be noted that triethanolamine oleate is an organic salt of low water solubility and having a high dipole moment, whereas the solvents are organic, have high dielectric constants, and are soluble in water to a low degree.

Thus, thread, passing from the preparatory bath, was, to an appreciable degree, an electricalconductor. Passing into grooves I 6 and having electrical charges from source 36 imparted to it, the thread attracted substantial amounts of size. Between rods i8, 20 and 22, the thread continues as a conductor to a more substantial degree as current can fiow along it more readily.

The result is presented in a very large increase over the amount of size taken up by thread under normal conditions. Furthermore, natural cot-'- ton thread, which has resisted sizing under ordinary procedure, lends itself readily to addition of size under these circumstances.

ing between these rods and trough 38. The pas-.

sage of the electrical current between rods I8, 20 and 22 and trough 38, together with the increased conductivity and attractive powers of the thread by reason of impregnation in bath l2, results in an increased deposit of size on the thread before it arrives at roll 26., Here the thread is finally cleared of any loose particles of size by passage between the felt surface of roll 26 and roller 28 before passing to brushes 34 which finally polish the thread.

Many other changes could be efiected in the particular apparatus here designed, and in the methods of operation herein set forth, and in specific details thereof, without substantially departing from the invention intended to be defined in the accompanying claims, the specific description herein being merely illustrative of operative embodiments carrying out the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed as new and useful is:

1. In the art of building up the body of spun textile thread with .a body of weighting material, the steps of feeding thread through a primary bath of materials including formamide, triethanolamine oleate, and nitrobenzene to make the thread more susceptible to the addition of weighting material thereto, and then establishing an electrical potential difference between the thread and the weighting material while introducing the thread into a bath of the weighting material.

2. In the art of building up the bodyof 'spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, the steps of feeding thread through a primary bath of materials including 10% formamide, 10% triethanolamine oleate and nitrobenzene, and then establishing an electrical potential 'difference between the thread and the weighting material while introducing the thread into a bath of the weighting material.

3. In the art of building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, the steps of feeding thread through a primary bath including triethanolamine oleate dissolved in an organic solvent of low water solubility to make the thread more susceptible to the addition of weighting material thereto, and then establishing an electrical potential diflerence between the thread and the weighting material while introducing the thread into a bath of the weighting material.

4. In the art of building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, the steps of feeding thread through a primary bath of a substance to make the thread more effective as a'conductor of electric current, then passing the thread through a bath ofweighting tacting surface, and establishing an electrical potential difierence between rial bath and the thread at on the immersed portions.

the weighting matespaced apart positions 5. In the art of building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, the steps of impregnating the thread to make the thread more effective as a conductor of electric current, then positioning the thread in a bath of weighting material so that the thread is substantially completely immersed and is substantially completely free of any contacting surface, and establishing an electrical potential difference between the weighting material bath and the thread at separated points along the immersed thread.

6. In the art of building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, the steps of continuously feeding thread through a bath including triethanolamine oleate dissolved in nitrobenzene, then passing the thread from that bath into another bath containing weighting material, supporting the thread in the latter bath so that substantial portions of, the thread are immersedin the bath free of any contacting surface, and establishing an electrical potential difference between the weighting material bath and the thread at separated points along the immersed thread.

'1. In the art of building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, the steps of continuously feeding thread through a. bath including triethanolamine oleate dissolved in nitrobenzene, then passing the-thread from that bath into another bath containing weighting material, supporting the thread in the latter bath while it is being continuously moved through the bath so that substantial portions of thethread are immersed in the bath free of any contacting surface, and establishing an electrical potential difference between the weighting material bath and the thread at separated positions along said portions.

8. Apparatus for building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, a primary bath of a substance to make the thread more effective as a conductor of electric current, a bath of weighting material, means for con? tinuously feeding the thread through the primary bath and then into and through the bath of weighting material so that substantial portions of the thread are in the bath of weighting material free of any contacting surface, and means for establishing an electrical potential difference between the weighting material bath and the thread at positions spaced apart on the free portions in the bath.

9. Apparatus for building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, a primary bath of a substance to make the thread more effective as a conductor of electric current, a bath of weighting material, thread-supporting means beneath the surface of the weighting material bath, means for continuously feeding the thread through the primary bath and then for support upon the thread-supporting means in the bath of weighting material, the support means engaging the thread in the bath so that substantial portions of the thread are in the bath of weighting material free of any contacting surface, and means for establishing an electrical potential difference between the weighting material bath and the thread at the support means.

10. Apparatus for building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, a primary bath of a substance to make the thread more effective as a conductor of electric current, a bath of weighting material, a plurality of guide members positioned beneath the surface of the weighting material bath and spaced substantial distances apart, means for continuously feeding the thread through the primary bath and then upon the guide members, and means for establishing an electrical potential difference between the weighting material bath and the thread through the guide members.

11. Apparatus for building up the body of spun textile thread with a body of weighting material, a primary bath of a substance to make the thread more effective as a conductor of electric current,

a bath of weighting material, a plurality of sub-,

stantially parallel metallic rods extending across the weighting material bath positioned beneath the surface of the weighting material bath and spaced substantial distances apart, means for continuously feeding the thread through the primary bath and then into the weighting material bath to slide under the rods, and means for establishing an electrical potential difference between the weighting material bath and the thread with the rods comprising electrodes.

EDWARD NATHANIEL HALL. 

